Coming Soon from Brown Books
I have read responses about the possibility of congress approving $25,000 incentives; forget it! In the context of drafting legislation, Bills were proposed approving incentives “up to $25,000 per retiree.” This is light years beyond approved legislation that would transcend into money in your pocket because it was only a proposal “to authorize the Postal Service to grant incentives.” Under the most generous proposals, the proposed legislation only authorized the Postal Service to “negotiate” incentives.
Negotiations have been concluded and the amount agreed to was $15,000. There will not be a penny more at some later date. If you intend to retire my advice is to “take the money and run,” there is zero possibility that the amount will be increased. And for those who hope that a similar offer will be made in the future, I suggest that the odds are heavily against another incentive any time soon. The circumstances surrounding this incentive are unique and are highly unlikely to be repeated, ever. Consolidations and service standard changes will make it possible to process a changing mix of mail with fewer employees. The only mail that is growing is Standard mail and parcel post. Standard mail is not time sensitive consistent with service standards, and mailers can make adjustments in mail preparation and points of insertion in the mail stream. There is nothing in the pipeline that will facilitate a need to reduce the complement faster than the normal rate of attrition.
The principle driver of this incentive is the monetary reward in replacing existing employees with new employees hired under the new wage scale. Postal costs are reduced by 50% when a retiree with 35 years of service is replaced by a new employee. Just the simple replacement of a body for a body and labor costs are reduced in half. At no time in the future, no matter the bargaining philosophy employed by the negotiators will there be a similar gap between old and new employees. Future negotiators, no matter how inept cannot reduce labor costs in similar amounts without violating minimum wage restrictions. So if you want or need an incentive this is probably your last and best opportunity.
For those that do not qualify for this incentive, you are out of luck. The only remote salvation is that the number of employees who accept is surprisingly small and to achieve the expected 20,000 to 25,000 employee reduction it will be necessary to repeat the process in the future. My best estimate is that of the 115,000 APWU represented eligibles there will be somewhere in the range of 35,000 who will take the money and run. If I am in the ball park, this will be the last and final retirement incentive in the next 50 years.
Wayne
I respect the difficult decision that you have to make and you should consider all factors beforee making a decision to retire. Continuing medical treatment has to be taken into consideration. I am not adequately versed in the rules governing compensation to offer you advise, but point you to the professionals that are knowledgeable about the interaction of the relative laws. The union has publicized a web address for contact on the incentive issues and it is expected that the staff employees whom I used during my presidency are the contact point and will respond to your question.
Mr. Burrus, I have been eligible to retire as of June of this year. I am also on workers comp due to an otj injury but before I accept this latest special incentive offer to retire I need to know what happens to my workers comp case if I decide to accept the offer. Does my case end? Do I end up having to pay for the therapy I’ve been getting, the medicines I have to take for pain? If so, the $15,000 before taxes I’ve been offered won’t cover anything for long. Please get back to me before Dec. 3rd as this is the deadline for accepting the offer. Thank you in advance and thank you for all the years you gave us members.
The familiar saying is: ” It’s the economy stupid ! ” I say: ” It’s the packages and parcels – stupid ! ” How come Postal Service Management NEVER cites the absolute need for the Postal Network to deliver all the goods that are being bought via the engine of the” New Age ” economy: the internet. ? Everyone’s goods need to be delivered -and before you say Fed Ex or UPS, everyone here should know by now that the Post Office delivers [ Fed Ex & UPS' ] stuff to the far outlaying reaches of America because [Fed Ex and UPS ] have factored into their costs the transportation and handling co$t$ and we really do it for less. I think this is why Darrell Issa and the ” Corporate Republican Elite ” want to place our network into the hands of privateers -it’s the last real THING in the U.S. that hasn’t been raided in the last 35 years – that still has some business value to it. After all, delivery of local mail /parcels /packages can’t be performed by someone in India or China, so lets screw everyone that is employed right here in the U.S. out of the last bastion of decent wages / benefits. If this were France, Spain or Great Britain there would be rioting in the streets… traffic jams of every major highway, and social disobedience galore. I guess they know how to stand up for themselves better than we do these days huh ? I never thought I’d see the day when freedom, democracy and good paying jobs would be defended to a greater degree by nations other than ours.
Big D
You must act on your own instincts in deciding whether or not to accept the incentive and retire. There are facts not available to you or me that will determine the possibility of future opportunities. What we do know is that the Postal Service does not have available resurces to give employees $15,000 or more, if they can achieve their employee compliment reductions another way.
Rick
I do not know the status of the grievance that I filed on severance pay. Perhaps a call to the national office, if you can reeach am officer might help. As you know they have installed an answering service that I flatly rejected all of my career. I always thought that I owed it to the members to talk directly to an employee when they took the time to call. I challenge any memberr to call any number at headquarters and get an officer on the other end.
Bill
The Step 4 Appeal is posted at apwu.org:
USPS Dispute No. Q06C4QC08268987, APWU No. HQTG2008 10
http://www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/step4/022009ataseverancepay.pdf
I called National in 2011 and was told by a secretary not to expect a resolve any time soon.
Your point is well taken Mr. Burrus that USPS statisticians are capable of predicting the attrition rate over the next five years with some degree of accuracy. The counter point is that the attrition rate has become rather dismal of late. It seems that postal workers all over the country are bunkering down for the long haul regardless of being VER qualified. This stance, one must assume is based on a reluctance or unsureness of feeling secure enough financially to provide for themselves and their families. Not to be redundant with the economy but it just keeps getting in the way of being decisive on permanently leaving one’s bread and butter. The $15,000 is better than nothing you are correct, but I tend to see the glass half full and believe the Postal Service has never faced a crisis this extreme in it’s existence. I would prefer to spend three more years in my job leading up to the start of negotiations of the new contract. This assures me of 6% more in my retirement which will recoup the less than $15,000 after taxes the USPS is offering now in less than four years of retirement.
Secondly, it is really not so inconceivable in these drastic times for the Postal Service that another offer with more substance may be coming at the end of this contract. I am sure the Postal Service would highly prefer to have the said figure I mentioned in my last post out before attempting to establish a new contract. It is quite obvious from the last contract that the Postal Service is looking for and received more flexibility with employee’s and lower wages leading to a more modern, trimmed down, versatile service. Knowing that Congress still needs to act on proposed bills only adds fuel to the fire that the urgency to act on crunching numbers is dire. The shake out of employee’s by proposed closings could very well end up in court delaying that strategy for some time. These all seems to be advantageous to holding your ground for something better down the road.
I would be remiss not to acknowledge the concern of losing future no layoff protection which would be more of a possibility if the republicans were to obtain the White House but we have been down that road before and know it is very difficult to achieve a majority vote for such approval. I also would like to see our union pay close attention to any reassignments to different crafts or facilities to assure that all alternatives to these moves have been exhausted. Again, the contract currently in place left a gaping hole in that a victory was claimed by the APWU in that we can only be moved 50 miles! After reading the fine print it’s realized that if nothing is available within the 50 miles negotiations take place which will undoubtedly send you further out. In the end it is speculative at best on our part to try and predict what is coming or not coming, but I like my chances!
Big D
Only time will tell, but I predict from experience that incentives will not be offered anytime soon and not in an amount greater than $15,000 no matter what Congress does. USPS technicians have the statistics reflecting the attrition rate over the next five years and these numbers reflect the number of employees who qualify for a VER, those who are currently eligible for full retirement and the expected death rate. These statistics will drive their decision, but I can assure you that they will not conclude that a larger incentive is needed.
Concurrence with retirement there is a reduction in income so for the employee, the consideration is maintaining the same life style with less. This reduction will take place whenever the decision is made so the principle question is can he/she afford to retire. The incentive will not make up the difference but it is better than nothing.
I expect the predicted 20,000 to be met because of the turmoil happening in post offices around the country where employees with 20 years seniority are being reassigned to the carrier craft or to facilities requiring commutes of more than an hour. I have not been on the work floor of small or large offices since I retired, so I have no direct knowledge of the uncertainty present among employees. I do know that despite the no lay off protection there is a general feeling of insecurity that will play a role in the decisions. My best guess is that waiting for a larger incentive would be a bad decision.
I will have to disagree with Mr. Burrus on his assertion of 35,000 clerks to take the offer. When taking a closer look at this it’s $15,000 spread out over two years and will be taxed before the taker is given what’s left. This is not life changing money, this is a bonus if you would for clerks who were intending on leaving this year regardless of an offer. Also, we are in troubling times where many Americans are out of work and many have given up the search for it. I would differ that many clerks will sit tight realizing that this economy is costing us more and more to survive in which will incur much doubt on whether it is in their best interest to leave. I am subjected to believe that the projected 155k reduction of full time employee’s by 2016 is very much in jeapordy. It is also not out of the realm of conception that congress would suggest a more incentive laiden offer to expedite the need of this reduction to eventually put the Postal Service back on solid footing. If the Postal Service fails to reach this goal by a substantial margin before the next contract negotiations begin (2015) then it becomes more obvious that a more lucrative path will be taken. This could be up to three years added or possibly both years and money agreed upon.
After reading all – the comments, LOL – I am leaving – there is life after the P.O.they are working so much overtime on the graveyard shift – and that is exactly where they are going to end up sooner than later. Peace be Still
The supplement will kick in when you reach the mra.
Thanks, I am mra and eligible for the vera . I know you get a parial annuity
check for 6-9 months, and was wondering if it is the same for the special social
security supplement. I was told you don’t receive any of it for 6-9 months.
Jeans
Speak to your union representative and ask that he/she contact your Congressperson.
Is there a refund of $250 after 25 years: Life Time Membership Incentive for Union members?
Does a person taking the vera also have to wait 6-9 months to get the special supplement
or do they also get a portion of it in the meantime? Seems no one can answer this
question,Hr doesn”t know because OPM handles it and you can’t speak to anyone at OPM until you’re retired.
This is something they won’t tell you at the retirement seminar. I know the answer because of 2 friends, who were clerks ,retired a few months ago. The supplement will take 4 to 6 months to kick in and you won’t get it unless you are at least 56. The postal annuity for FERS will not be the amount that your estimate says you will get. They will only give you about 70% of what your estimated annunity is supposed to be, because they need the time to go over all of you postal hours for all the years you worked. They will subtract any LWOP from you total years of service, and re-adjust you annunity by that. If it turns out to be the amount of the original estimate, and when they finally decide on your correct amount; they will send you the lump sum of what you missed in payments, and tell you what your exact annunity will be. So, you will need to draw out of your TSP or from some other source to live on until about 6 months or so. Sometimes it takes longer, not to scare you, but we had clerks who retired in 2009 and didn’t receive any check for 1 whole year. It does happen. Just make sure you have other money to live on until they get caught up. Remember as Bill said probably 35,000 clerks will take this offer, and it will take time to process everyone, so plan for that. I hope this helps.
the only job i know of that you go backwards in salary………..i am down 11000 in the last 3 years……sad
I didn’t start @ the PO until age 38. Having had management and supervision experience in the private sector, as well as an NCO in the Army for many years, I looked around at this operation and said: “…and I thought the Army was !#$% up! Here we are nearly 30 years later, and my next birthday is 65. Time to “jump ship” and enjoy life. Every day that has gone by was worse than the one before. Management and supervision is incompetent. The tragedy is these folks think they are doing a good job. If the PO was the private sector, ALL these folks would be on the outside looking in! Ignorance is bliss. “Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty, I’m free at last”!
The money sucks, it won’t last long super sizing at McDonalds very long….I can lounge around here another five years making $72,000 and add in the cost of benefits this will cost the PO $100,000 to have me do nothing all day but watch co-workers sleep, read books, and lounge around and watch cstodians earn 50,000 to do the work some jerk can do for $7.50 a hour. So why not cost the PO $500,000 since they can’t do the math. Buy me out for a lousy $15,000 vs $360,000…dumb as hell wouldn’t you say…..for all the hard working souls in the PO which I see are few try Maintenance
Hate to burst your bubble bud, they’re quietly abolishing
maintenance jobs in my area, lumping level 10 machine technicians in with custodians and giving them an option to be carriers or custodians. Who’s to say they won’t be rolling through your area abolishing jobs? The gravy train with the biscuit wheels is making it’s last trip. Get your ticket and catch the train!
I forgot to add they only had 20 jobs for 55 people.
Mr. Burrus, I was one of the employees who left in 2009 in one of the early outs before they started to offer incentives. At the time, the union filed a grievance for those who left by trying to obtain severance pay. You had always kept us updated while you were still running the show, but no words since you left. Have you heard anything about this grievance or has it been withdrawn?
a wise retired man once told me “you can always make money”but you can never get those years back…….I’m gone….
Remember when you retire you don’t pay: 1-Retirement-Approx. 143.00 per ch.
2-Medicare-approx.40.00 per ch.
3-Union wages-approx. 21.00 per ch.
4-Insurance-5xsalary-62 per ch. but doubles when you turn 60
5-Gas to and from work- I spend about 100 per check
6-No state tax on my federal pension-approx 100 per ch
So most of us will save approx 460 per check as oppose to working. That’s 12064.00 per year. Yes I know our health plan approx doubles but all in all the reduced pay ments should come close to 10,000.
So on a 53100 salary with a 10,000 reduction your really only making apprcx 40000.
That’s what my pension will be before survivors benefits. So by staying I’m working for about 2 dollars per hour.
ARIVERDERCHI
Are the contractually negotiated raises, and COLA’s, which we haven’t seen a penny of, going to be figured in to our high 3? Funny how we are a government entity when it is convient, and motherless children when it is not convient.
Thanks JR for being one of the smart ones and figuring that one out.They don’t tell you about that money they plan on stealing from us.
What about the carriers? they can save money in salaries by replacing us old guys with young ones???
For the umptienth time, there will be no carrier incentive now or in the future.
There is a shortage of carriers; incentives are for when there are a surplus.
Bill,
Minus the 35,000 clerks you estimate will accept the offer, according to the latest USPS 5 year plan, we will still be greatly overstaffed by more than 100,000 employees. I think you are sadly mistaken thinking similar offers will not be made down the road. The PO will still need to downsize over the coming years and can save vast sums of $$$$$ replacing us older workers with cheaper replacements.
There are quite a few of us CSRS employees who have the years but do not have the age. Some are as young as 47 . We will not be accepting this offer due to the 2% per year penalty.
They’ve offered cash incentives to the APWU crafts, the NPMHU, and some EAS. The USPS will do a RIF before it offers more money.
I’m a topped out ET with 32 years in service. The Postal Service has over a half a million dollars invested in me, sending me to training in Norman Ok. I’m going to take the money and run because they are shutting down our facility. I’m am not ex military and they plan to make me a letter carrier at age 64! Good luck replacing me with someone at half my salary.
Your replaceable….get over yourself they don’t give a damn how much they invested. You can take a ET exam which is dumbed down and sit around waiting on calls and if you can’t do them so lazy co-worker that has been sleeping or doing nothing all day will get it.
The exams may now be “dumbed-down”, but there is much more to being an ET than “sitting around to answer calls”. Ultimately, someone must troubleshoot and repair failed equipment, or the USPS would be out of business in a New York minute. Are we ETs replacable? Sure, everyone is, but good luck getting up to speed on complex networked systems. IE: a single-sided APPS machine itself has miles of cabling and some twenty computers that must successfully communicate with each other just to start the machine. Good luck trying to find just any boob on the street who can sift through 100 pounds of tech manuals to handle that and also deal with a dozen or so other constantly updated systems. Spending a few weeks/months, years of training in Norman, OK might just alter your perspective on what an ET is/does.
Personally, I’ll have a tad over 41 years CSR time+ 2 yrs S/L accumulated by 1/31/13, and am champing at the bit to add some “icing” to my retirement cake. It’s been an interesting ride, spanning a time when ETs were required to troubleshoot down to discrete component level to the current environment where an understanding of state of the art equipment is necessary.
PS: Thanks Mr. Burrus for your long-time commitment to all APWU workers… many of us truly appreciate your efforts.
Drewk86a
Not true. The difference between a newly hired Grade 6 employee Step A employee and a retiring Step O is $41,000 – $53,000 as compared to an employee hired under the new contract with a difference of $35,000 vs $53,000. So the difference under the previous contract through Step progression was $12,000, that has been increased to $18,000. In addition, the new employee progresses only through Step J $48,000 as compared to $53,000. Compounding this disparity, the employee can be assigned a schedule of 30 hours a week, denied overtime over 8 and 40 so a newly hired employee’s salary can be reduced to $36,000 as compared to the $53,000 for the retiring employee.
Mr. Burrus,
You make very good points. I am glad that you are staying active in your retirement. I always believed you had a very sharp mind and great wisdom. As someone who professed that he didn;t know the first thing about computers, it is good to see that you have become proficient enough to be able to share you wisdom with the masses.
I totally agree, take the money and head for the nearest exit. In case you haven’t heard the USPS is bleeding money. Congress won’t approve the return of any FERS surplus money or any other quick fixes until they plug up the gaping financial holes in their operation. Incentives are the easiest and quickest fix. They have pretty much made the rounds giving everybody from Postmasters down the chance to leave voluntarily. The next big move will be the scheduled plant closures. I don’t think I should wait around and be excessed to Tim-Buck-Too!
Besides the taxes they take out on both years incentives, remember the 2% you lose each year you leave earlier. It not what its cracked up to be.
Getting on with, and enjoying life, instead of continuing to work for this clown show, *is* what its cracked up to be.
Here is my view: I am 57 with 36 years, CSRS. I’ve done my time, and am financially comfortable. With the slimming-down of clerk staffing, we have to rely heavily on our co-workers. When there is a kink in that armor and you have a dead beat, fellow employee or two that will not contribute evenly, you have to work harder to pick up the slack. In addition to this mediocrity, management continues to dump more and more on it’s employees. I have simply had enough. That is why I’ve decided to retire. This small incentive became the icing on the cake. It is my opinion, as well, that another incentive will not come along for a long time. So for those of you on the fence and feel retirement is doable, you may want to consider the offer and start living life.
RH, you are right about the kink in the armor comment. Where I work, when it’s miserably hot or raining cats and dogs, some just don’t want to work. And the teacher pets who come in and bring lunch to the “teacher” can get away with it. Some who are on the OT desired list say they are unavailable when there is OT and the ones who aren’t on it have to carry extra. Does that make sense to you?
Mr. Burrus, I think you are spot on about this being the last, best opportunity for an incentivized buyout. You also correctly, point out that the USPS can replace retirees man for man and still save billions. This action is similar to what Circuit City did with its employees, except in our case the retirement is voluntary.
The only place I disagree is that it seems you lay the reason (blame) for this labor savings solely at the feet of the negotiators of the current contract. I know you have been an outspoken critic of the new wage scale and the PSE wages / benefits. But isn’t it true that ANY new hire at ANY time in postal history would have made less money that a 35 year veteran? The same arguments for labor saving being made for this VERA could be applied to the VERA you negotiated in 2009 and the one Biller negotiated in the 1990′s.
When I started as a PTF, I made $11.32 per hour as a level 05-C clerk. The most senior clerk in my facility, a Level 05-O clerk made much more than I did. I had to work my way up the pay scale over the years. New hires ALWAYS make less than the senior people. That is just the way it works.
I will concede that the wage difference from top step to new hire is greater under the current agreement than it has been in the past. The Union will have to do something about that. However, to say that postal employees are being “Circuit Citied” solely as a result of the new agreement is disingenuous.
Question: I am a 51 year old female with 29 years in the p.o. Work is miserable and very mentally and physically demanding. Unloading barge containers by hand (no machines for loading and unloading) and doing the work of three people is overwhelming and all of the physical work is exacerbating the aches and pains I feel in my body. I know everything will only get worse. It is starting to affect my health. I am wrestling with the decision of whether or not to take the incentive. Approximately how much money would I lose each year since I’m under 55 if I retired with this incentive?
GR,
If you are a CSRS employee your Basic Annuity is reduced 2% for every year you are under 55. If you are FERS then there is no reduction. If you don’t plan to work anymore after leaving you might want to contact the Social Security Administration to see if your Social Security estimate may be reduced.
They calculate your benefit assuming you will have at least 35 years of employment history in your life. If you do not they add zeros to bring it up to 35 so that would reduce the benefit. If you plan to get another job, then that should not be an issue.
You say she would lose 2% per year and Fers wouldn’t lose any…. I believe that is misinformation, in a way.
crcs…. you won’t earn the 2% per year you would have if you stayed. you will get approx. 58% of your pay
fers…. you won’t earn the 1% per year you would have if you stay. you will get approx. 29% of your pay both based on your high 3 years pay
or if you like using the word penalized… crcs 2% penalty per year under 55 fer 1% penalty per year like when people say you get double time for working a holiday
you actually get an extra days pay.because you already were going to receive the days pay for staying home.
Mark
I believe your CSRS calculation is incorrect. A vested CSRS retiree with 30 years service at age 55 only receives 56% of their high 3 base pay. So an employee who is retiring 4 years early would lose 2 % of that 56% for each year: 4×2% = 8%. 56%-8% = 48%. And then as she only has 29 years, another 2%.
I believe that she will receive even less and should check with HR to get an idea before making any decision. At one time, a yearly estimate of retirement benefits was sent out yearly to any employee reaching age 50.
Also, the formula for CSRS is not a straight 2% for each year worked, it is somewhat less during the first 5 years of employment. That is why a 30 year employee (at age55) receives 56% of their high three base pay. As an example, I retired with just under 37 years, my percentage was 71.25% of my high three. Consider also that as you no longer have to pay the 7.25% retirement contribution or the 1.46% Medicare tax, my actual benefit was almost 80% of my high 3.
Item 2 of MOU states
” On the date of this MOU, eligible employees who had a previously scheduled retirement date that is earlier than January 31, 2013, may retire on their scheduled date and receive the incentive.”
The heading of the above is:
“Employees must indicate in a manner prescribed by the Employer on or before December 3, 2012 their intent to participate in the incentive program by indicating that they wish to take optional retirement, retirement pursuant to a VERA, or voluntary resignation and separate effective January 31, 2013.”
Then, close to the end of MOU:
“These incentives are a result of a bargaining agreement and are not Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments”
Question: eligible employees who, on the date of the MOU, had a previously scheduled retirement date that is earlier than January 31, 2013 (obtained by filing SF2801/SF3107 Application for Immediate Retirement) should they receive by mail a form to allow them to indicate their intent to participate in the incentive program?
Is it just me, or there is, indeed, something fishy?
I retired on incentive in July 2012. Have to wait 5 to 8 mos to receive my FULL PENSION. According to OPM they are very busy and can’t get your money until all records are processed. Letters to congresspersons don’t help much and there is freeze on hiring more people at the OPM to cover all the applications. So have plenty of funds to cover your expenses. Only 60 to 80 percent is the interim monies allotted to you.
Good luck
I retire from the Oakland PO on Oct. 2009, on the last early out.I joined the PO on 1-28-74.I was a proud member of the APWU for over 30 years except for 1 year. But Sir. I was suppose to receive $250.00. But the Union office in Oakland,Ca. does not have my complete records of membership with the APWU. Could you ask someone at the National Union office in Washington,DC. could they send a copy of my complete membership records to the APWU Oakland,Ca. office and ask the President Fred Jacobs to please expedite my check. thank you. my phone no. 1-510-323-5075
In reply to David R. Jackson.
LOL, good luck with that !
$250.00 for what?
I qualify and I will pass on this buy out. Just look at all the private companies that introduced “buy outs” starting in the late 80′s and through the 90′s what is the status of those unions and union employees now. The unions in the telecom industry, the airline industry and soon if not now the auto industry are all weak. It started with weak leadership the same like the APWU has now.
I will pass because this giant Goliath still has some life left in it. I ask you to ask yourself this question if you are near 62 as I am : Is 15, 000 worth the 60, 000 in future earnings and a greater retirement you will be giving up?
In reply to Joe V..
By “greater retirement” you must mean “less time until I die” retirement. But hey, knock yourself out; why get out and enjoy life when you can keep working at the postal circus, right ?
In reply to Iseedumbpeople
Take the $15,000 and divide it by the $50-60 a month more you will get by retiring later! That is how long it will take for you to live before you die to make up the money!
Your point is what again ?
What about the civil service letter carriers?
In reply to Joe V..
Carriers are not and will not be receiving any offers of any kind.
Why can’t workers age 62 or more, who have been told for years they can retire with 5 years of service, get the early buyout? Discrimination?
In reply to Jim771
Why can’t workers age 62 or more just retire already ?
Reply to Jim771
Who says you can’t. All who can immediately retire can collect the money.
Soon to be Retired
As will be explained in a separate post, the Senate Bill does not require an incentive, if passed “it will authorize incentives.”
LOL ! In the next fifty years…………man, what a clown you are BurrASS.
In reply to Iseedumbpeople
For you to see soooooo many dumb people you certainly must be associating yourself with dumb people, as “BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER” Dumb Asshoooole.
Keep drinkin’ the kool-aid sucker.
still running his mouth….
You commanded an Army of workers, and if you said do it, we did, Guffey was not as forthcoming, sure he may have thought he was doing good, but you knew that you were doing good, many of us can never say enough, again, God Bless you in all your endeavors!
Am I not correct in reading Senate bill S1789 that for the post office to get their hands on FERS money to be returned and used to pay off their debts(approximately 10 billion of the 13 billion )they must first take a portion of the money being returned to them AS A BUYOUT!Up to $25,000.This money is separate from the money being used now,ad I interpret it and according to S1789,is a
quid pro quo….Buyouts first…money for paying off debt second.
If 20,000 employees are replaced with lower wage hires,that would save approximately$25,000 per personor 500 million dollars…a drop in the bucket.Why not take the opportunity.to make a REAL dent in payroll…have separate buyouts(one from the post office of $15,000 & one from Congress for up to $25,000)That would get around the$25,000 maximum buyout amount and really reduce payroll as many more would leave with a higher buyout.Is that so ridiculous to wonder about?
pro quo….Buyouts first….money from Congress second.If 30,000 employees at top pay level are replaced
As local union officer once in one of the largest locals and then one of the smaller locals, we get to know our National, there are many fine people there, and the NBA’s are always on the email agenda, one of the finest I met was our prior National President, a long time ago, but I never doubted supporting you, Bill, you are 100% right on this, and I will not pass another one this time, but remember this in your retirement, we appreciated your honesty, and you held power over things that affected hundreds of thousands of APWU members, and their families, if not for Moe and you, would we have a decent retirement?, think not, God Bless you and your family and that includes the APWU Family, we still follow you even going into retirement, that says more than can ever be put into words!
Amen Brother. This is what I have been waiting for. I AM going to take the money and RUN, RUN, RUN!!! Life awaits!!!